On View: Marguerite Humeau "Scintille" At White Cube New York

Why It Matters

The exhibition reframes ecological cooperation as a model for human resilience, offering cultural leaders a tangible narrative for collective response to uncertainty.

Key Takeaways

• Humeau’s “Synchicity” draws parallels between cave darkness and uncertainty.
• Installation features bat colony roles illustrating collective survival strategies.
• Artist emphasizes learning from organisms adapting to extreme environments.
• Exhibition runs at White Cube New York through February 21.
• Themes explore emergent emotions lacking language in today’s turbulent times.

Summary

Marguerite Humeau’s latest exhibition, "Synchicity," opens at White Cube New York, inspired by a harrowing cave dive in West Papua. The artist recounts swimming in total darkness, feeling her body dissolve into the void, and uses that experience as a metaphor for navigating today’s uncertain climate.

The installation juxtaposes that subterranean darkness with the intricate social structure of a bat maternity colony. Humeau highlights specific roles—the "guardian of the night roost" protecting pups and the "dancing bat" clearing air—illustrating how individual actions sustain the collective. She argues that, like bats, humans must prioritize communal survival over solitary ambition, especially as new, unnamed emotions surface in turbulent times.

Throughout the gallery, audio‑visual elements echo the cave’s silence, while Humeau narrates: "We are in darkness, but our eyes adjust and see stars." This poetic framing, combined with the bat metaphors, underscores the exhibition’s central thesis: emergent feelings and societal challenges can be deciphered through nature’s adaptive strategies.

Running until February 21, "Synchicity" invites viewers to reflect on collective resilience and the lessons hidden in darkness. By translating ecological cooperation into artistic language, Humeau offers a blueprint for navigating societal upheaval, positioning the show as both a sensory experience and a call to communal action.

Original Description

In this installment of "On View," Marguerite Humeau takes us through “scintille,” her newly opened exhibition at White Cube. Inspired by a recent visit to a cave in West Papua, near Indonesia, the show examines the labyrinthian ecosystem of the cave as a site of uncertainty, transformation, and co-existence.⁠

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“What do we learn from living in darkness? What do we learn from the cave organisms?,” Humeau asks, as she joins ARTnews multimedia editor Christopher Garcia Valle at the gallery.⁠

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Additional footage of Pulau Kalong island in Indonesia by Ainur Mufid via Getty.